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craigslist strategy for finding treasures

The N.Y.Times recently ran a story about a couple who bought a house in Upstate New York for $95,000 and fixed it up, beautifully, for $10,000, using pure elbow grease and a eye for scavenged and second-hand stuff. The best nugget of info, to me, was about how to score serious finds on Craigslist: “Using Craigslist…

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Freeform Architecture LEGO Kit in Monochrome White (+ D-I-Y Alternative)

Having long been enamored of building blocks both miniature and life-sized for their cool modularity and open invitation to improvise, I find this jumbo building kit from LEGO is the perfect thing for adults to play/plan/build with. Whether to envision a real-life project in small scale or simply get out of your own head for a minute, these…

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chair frame transformed with ribbon, bungees, string

We posted an ad in Craigslist looking for an assistant and found the most amazing people doing very cool things —blogs, tumblrs, writing, artworks — just…because… At Vanessa’s A City That Endures tumblr, we stumbled on the work of photographer Michael Wolf.  He documents the random detritus of the man-made world and the beauty and order that underlie the…

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reno 101: how to find an affordable architectural plan-maker

After our disastrous experience with a bogus architectural plan drawer we found on Craigslist, the dilemma remained: how to get excellent architectural plans made for the Laboratory’s renovation without paying a fortune. Our new strategy was to put the word out for a talented graduate from a great architecture program like Columbia University and closely…

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protect what you value!!! (say ‘no’ to sopa + pipa)

Today, many of the blogs we visit went dark in protest of SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) proposed legislation that could potentially destroy the stunning innovation that has defined the internet. BoingBoing described it best: “…the US Senate is considering legislation that would certainly kill us forever. The legislation is called the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA),…

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d-i-y modern/rustic table

We always admire people who fearlessly take things apart on the way to REconfiguring them in a new way. So we love the antique table Faye from You are the River hacked, to give it a rustic/modern look; she salvaged rough-hewn top and added moderne legs. “I picked up a super funky table on Craigslist for…

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